We've got a bunch of back rowers who can comfortably play 80 mins. I'd punt Hoffman in favour of another prop and give more minutes to the other back rowers. If I'm not mistaken there were times where NSW had 4 back rowers (Bird, Watmough, Lewis and Hoffman) on the field plus Gallen up front so no specialist props in the game. Replacing Reynolds with yet another prop or even another 2nd rower would give NSW some much needed fresh legs at the back end of the game.
Hoffman on the left didn't look as good as Lewis on the right. The drop off Cam Smith didn't look good either.
But punting him and bringing in another prop changes the dynamic in the middle.
It means shifting Bird left and altering the mobile middle third rotation of which Bird is an integral part and worked very well last night.
With the exception of Tamou who I thought played very flat and slowed the play down rather than bending the line (although he was solid as a rock in defence), the balance of the middle rotation with Gallen - Watmough - Merrin & Fifita gave the QLD forwards a heap of problems with their footwork in attack and quick shutdown of the ball carrier in defence. Slater was lurking constantly and the NSW forwards denied the offloads.
All the interchanges last night were amongst these 6 players with Lewis & Hoffman playing full 80 mins from memory. The reason NSW were so much better last night than in Sticky's years was because Daley rotated the middle constantly. Kept them fresh. 80 min players or not, this is imperative when forwards play in the middle.
Hoffman and his combinations with Maloney and Jennings will be better for this 1st up game. He's been out of the side for a couple of years and his game and his effectiveness is very much dependent on familiarity of combinations and repetition. Just like the Lockyer-Thaiday-Hodges & Thurston-Harrison-Inglis of QLD teams past. A bit hasty calling for his head. Typical NSW fans though.
Furthermore, replacing Reynolds with a Grant or Woods puts in an extra body into the middle rotation. Sounds a winner with having 7 blokes rotating in and out of there but it will also reduce the game time of all of those blokes. Once again, the dynamic changes from what NSW had last night.
Hannant will come back though. Up to Daley to decide if he thinks the same tactics will be a winner in Game 2. Personally, I reckon a subtle change has to be made to keep the toads honest and expecting something new. Nothing major, just a small change that keeps the game plan fresh.
